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Scriptural Discussion #2: Scriptures—Men To Be Judged By

SCRIPTURES—MEN TO BE JUDGED BY

Nephi said, “Wherefore, for this cause hath the Lord God promised unto me that these things which I write shall be kept and preserved, and handed down unto my seed, from generation to generation, that the promise may be fulfilled unto Joseph, that his seed should never perish as long as the earth should stand. Wherefore, these things shall go from generation to generation as long as the earth shall stand; and they shall go according to the will and pleasure of God; and the nations who shall possess them shall be judged of them according to the words which are written.” (2 Nephi 25: 21-22)

The Lord said, “For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.” (2 Nephi 29:11)

Jesus said, “For behold, out of the books which have been written, and which shall be written, shall this people be judged, for by them shall their works be known unto men. And behold, all things are written by the Father; therefore out of the books which shall be written shall the world be judged.” (3 Nephi 27: 25-26)

Okay, this might be an unintended tangent, but these scriptures, along with Nephi’s alleged obligation to kill Laban and Joseph Smith’s life-endangering possession of gold plates, point to the necessity of a written record for the restoration of the gospel. Why, then, were the written records never used in translation? IWhy would God demand killing, suffering, and personal risk if JS were going to put his head in a hat and dictate from a peepstone?

Your comments have spurned a thought. The Nephites had “original records,” meaning engravings upon plates made by the actual authors themselves. (The Brass Plates were possibly a copy onto plates.) The Israelites had the original writings of Moses. We don’t have anything original from other dispensations. Most likely if we did have original writings from previous dispensations, we would end up with a multiplicity of translations, just like the Bible has various versions according to who did the translating. The only thing original that we have is what Joseph wrote and much of that has been destroyed or lost. (We also have the canonized originals of his successors.) But pretty much, we all use original language copies or translated copies. So, I don’t think we are going to be judged by the “orginals,” as most people never have access to the originals. I think that the Lord is referring to the canonized original language copies and canonized translated copies, which of course may have errors in them depending upon the accuracy of the copying and the accuracy of translation or interpretation.